BCG report says Luxury brands should invest more in India as the affluent class rises

A new report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) suggests that luxury brands should invest more resources in marketing and selling in India, as the affluent class grows.

Remember the time when we Indians looked forward to our relatives’ bringing things like chocolates, toys, perfumes, branded shoes from abroad. Well, that was at least a decade back, and since then times have changed.

Today you get products from several luxury brands right in India, and Indian consumers are even willing to pay more if those luxury products are available in India.

As per the BCG report, of India’s five household income categories (elite, affluent, aspirers, next billion, and strugglers), the top two income classes are the fastest growing.

The report also says that consumers in emerging cities in India behave differently from the the urban-city consumers. They demand more value-for-money and have a more conservative financial outlook. They also have high purchasing aspirations but are often constrained by product availability in their cities.